Science News
clock | January 19, 2007Bats In Flight Reveal Unexpected Aerodynamics:
The maneuverability of a bat in flight makes even Harry Potter's quidditch performance look downright clumsy. While many people may be content to simply watch these aerial acrobats in wonder, Kenneth Breuer and Sharon Swartz are determined to understand the detailed aerodynamics of bat flight - and ultimately the evolutionary path that created it.
...more under the fold:
First Case Of Insect Transmission Of Chagas Parasite In Louisiana:
Loyola biology professor Patricia Dorn, Ph.D., in collaboration with Dawn Wesson, Ph.D., of Tulane University…
clock | January 16, 2007As always, fell free to rip apart either the papers or the pre-releases in the comments (if they deserve that, of course - some are OK:
Code Pink: Extreme Weather Leaves Flamingos Hungry:
Lesser flamingos (Phoeniconaias minor) at Lake Bogoria, Kenya, are suffering from malnutrition, report Earthwatch-supported scientists working there. The scientists are investigating the causes of recent large-scale mortality events, resulting in the death of thousands of lesser flamingos in Kenya last year and at least half a million birds during the 1990s. Post-mortem examinations on several flamingos…
clock | January 16, 2007Why Are Lions Not As Big As Elephants?:
Carnivores are some of the widest ranging terrestrial mammals for their size, and this affects their energy intake and needs. This difference is also played out in the different hunting strategies of small and large carnivores. Smaller species less than 15-20 kg in weight specialize on very small vertebrates and invertebrates, which weigh a small fraction of their own weight, whereas larger species (>15-20 kg) specialize on large vertebrate prey near their own mass. While carnivores around the size of a lynx or larger can obtain higher net energy…
clock | January 15, 2007New Group Of Algae Discovered: Picobiliphytes:
An international group of researchers has succeeded in identifying a previously unknown group of algae. As currently reported in the scientific journal Science, the newly discovered algae are found among the smallest members of photosynthetic plankton - the picoplankton ('Picobiliphytes: A marine picoplanktonic algal group with unknown affinities to other Eukaroytes" Science, Vol. 316'). On account of the minute size of the organisms (no more than a few thousandth of a millimetre) and the appearance of phycobili-proteins, researchers have termed…
clock | January 13, 2007There's No Scent Like Home: New Research Shows Larval Fish Use Smell To Return To Coral Reefs:
Tiny larval fish living among Australia's Great Barrier Reef spend the early days of their lives swept up in ocean currents that disperse them far from their places of birth. Given such a life history, one might assume that fish populations would be genetically homogeneous within the dispersal area. Yet the diversity of reef fish species is high and individual reefs contain different fish populations. For such rich biodiversity to have evolved, some form of population isolation is required. New…
clock | January 12, 2007Big-brained Birds Survive Better In Nature:
Birds with brains that are large in relation to their body size have a lower mortality rate than those with smaller brains, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. The research provides the first evidence for what scientists describe as the 'cognitive buffer' hypothesis - the idea that having a large brain enables animals to have more flexible behaviours and survive environmental challenges.
The Price Of Vanity: Mating With Showy Males May Reduce Offspring's Ability To Fight Off…
evolgen | January 11, 2007The post from yesterday was inspired by the news coverage surrounding the paper describing gene expression differences (DOI) between human populations. The original article uses neither the term 'race' nor the term ''Caucasian''. Instead, what would normally be called 'races' are referred to as 'populations' -- aside from the single use of 'ethnic groups' in the title of the paper -- and the population that would be called ''Caucasian' ' is dubbed 'European-derived'.
When we look at some of the news coverage of the article, though, we see different terminology. The Nature news item by the…
clock | January 11, 2007Why Doesn't The Immune System Attack The Small Intestine? New Study Provides Unexpected Answer:
Answering one of the oldest questions in human physiology, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why the body's immune system - perpetually on guard against foreign microbes like bacteria -- doesn't attack tissues in the small intestine that harbor millions of bacteria cells. In a study in the February issue of Nature Immunology, and which is currently available on the journal's Web site as an advanced online publication, investigators led by Shannon Turley, PhD, of Dana-…
clock | January 10, 2007We're Sorry This Is Late ... We Really Meant To Post It Sooner: Research Into Procrastination Shows Surprising Findings:
A University of Calgary professor in the Haskayne School of Business has recently published his magnum opus on the subject of procrastination -- and it's only taken him 10 years. Joking aside, Dr. Piers Steel is probably the world's foremost expert on the subject of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today. His comprehensive analysis of procrastination research, published in the recent edition of the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin,…
j7uy5 | January 10, 2007Notice the prominent use of the word "potential." That is
potential as in may or may not ever come to anything. As word
of these potential treatments gets out, we can expect that unscrupulous
persons will try to market things that sound like the potential
treatments I am about to discuss, but which are completely bogus.
So, I hope that people keep this kind of thing in mind, and
to the extent possible, learn to distinguish fact from fiction when it
comes to health products.
rel="tag">Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is one of those
things that seems to attract a lot of attention from certain…
clock | January 9, 2007How Fish Species Suffer As A Result Of Warmer Waters:
Ongoing global climate change causes changes in the species composition of marine ecosystems, especially in shallow coastal oceans. This applies also to fish populations. Previous studies demonstrating a link between global warming and declining fish stocks were based entirely on statistical data. However, in order to estimate future changes, it is essential to develop a deeper understanding of the effect of water temperature on the biology of organisms under question.
How Trees Manage Water In Arid Environments:
Water scarcity is slowly…
clock | January 7, 2007
Getting Livestock Vaccines Past A Maternal Block:
Use of a virus linked to the common cold is among the novel approaches Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Iowa are using to bypass maternal defenses that thwart vaccination of very young livestock.
Age, Gender Major Factors In Severity Of Auto-accident Injuries:
Understanding the differences among drivers in different gender and age categories is crucial to preventing serious injuries, said researchers in a new study showing stark statistical differences in traffic-accident injuries depending on the gender and age of drivers.…
j7uy5 | January 6, 2007The big Pharma news of the day is that Pzifer is marketing
(Slentrol®),
a drug to help obese dogs lose weight.
href="http://www.pfizerah.com/slentrol/sl_pi.pdf">
Dirlotapide, also known as N-{(1S)-2-[benzyl(methyl)amino]-
2-oxo-1-phenylethyl}-1-methyl-5-[4'-(trifluoromethyl)biphenyl-
2-carboxamido]-1H-indol-2-carboxamide, is definitely not recommended
for humans:
href="http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/DietNutrition/msnbc/4811">Slentrol
(dirlotapide) Goes to the Dogs
By Peggy Peck, Managing Editor, MedPage Today
January 05, 2007
ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 5 -- The FDA…
clock | January 6, 2007The Top 100 Science Stories of 2006 by Discover magazine.
Science: BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR and Runners-up.
Did you know there are hundreds of scientists posting on DailyKos? You should check the science tag there every now and then - there is some great stuff! For instance, Mark H of the Biomes blog has been posting a magnificient series of posts about marine life there for a while.
Oh, and Darksyde, thank you for the link!
clock | January 6, 2007Under the fold, due to MT malfunction....
New Sucker-footed Bat Discovered In Madagascar:
Scientists have discovered a new species of bat that has large flat adhesive organs, or suckers, attached to its thumbs and hind feet. This is a remarkable find because the new bat belongs to a Family of bats endemic to Madagascar--and one that was previously considered to include only one rare species.
Queen Bees Shown To Pass Viruses To Their Offspring:
The first evidence that viruses can be transmitted vertically from mother queens to their offspring in honey bee colonies has been discovered by…
evolgen | January 6, 2007
There is currently much debate over the ethics of chimeras -- organisms that are partially one species and partially another. This debate is especially heated when humans are one of the species involved. Nature has published an editorial on the controversy. I don't intend to comment on the position of the editorial, but rather on the sloppy use of language by the unattributed author.
I don't know enough about the research and clinical applications of chimeras involving humans to make any claims about the ethics of such creations, but I do know enough about biology to get all hot under the…
j7uy5 | January 6, 2007The Richat Structure is not a structure in the usual sense.
It is a natural feature located in the Sahara Desert of
Mauritania. It is unusual because it is nearly circular.
It was
href="http://www.eorc.nasda.go.jp/en/imgdata/topics/2003/tp031015.html">first
observed from space, in 1965, by the astronauts James A.
McDivitt and Edward H. White. (Irrelevant comment: both
McDivitt and White attended the University of Michigan, and there is a
href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=mcdivitt&w=27345247%40N00">plaza,
near the diag, named for them.)
At first,
href="http://www.…
clock | January 5, 2007New Orleans Termites Dodge Katrina Bullet:
Tales of survival have been trickling out of New Orleans ever since Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005. But few have focused on what might be considered the city's most tenacious residents--its subterranean termites. Agricultural Research Service (ARS) entomologists recently confirmed what many termite researchers and city officials were hoping against. Despite the high waters, winds and other havoc unleashed by Katrina over a year ago, the invasive Formosan subterranean termite is persisting in New Orleans.
Wetlands Curb Hog Hormones In Waste…
clock | January 4, 2007Mouse Lemur Species Not Determined By Coat Color:
A team of researchers has found that nocturnal lemurs thought to belong to different species because of their strikingly different coat colors are not only genetically alike, but belong to the same species. The team, which includes Laurie R. Godfrey, professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and UMass graduate student Emilienne Rasoazanabary, has just published its findings in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.
--------------------
The lemurs they tested had three different coat colors and lived in…